This call for papers is for a proposed panel to be held at (dis)junctions:Malappropriation Nation, the University of California, Riverside'sfourteenth annual graduate humanities conference on April 6-7, 2007.

The panel on feminism and psychoanalysis willexplore the critique and appropriation of psychoanalysis by feministcritical theorists and authors. How has psychoanalysis been(mal)appropriated in 20th century American literature and literary theory?How have masculinist texts been rethought/reread in terms of a feministpsychoanalytic sensibility? Is psychoanalysis still a viable criticalmethod? Has its revision by contemporary feminists proven to beuseful/empowering in terms of literary production/interpretation or has theappropriation of phallocentric theories proven disempowering? What does itmean to read a literary work through a critical lens unintended by theauthor? What does it mean if the critical lens has, itself, been reworkedinto a theory beyond or outside of the original theorist's intention?

Some possible topics may include:

Feminist critique/revision of Freudian or Lacanian psychoanalytic theoriesPsychoanalytic interpretations of 20th c. American literatureMasculinist literary figures, feminism, and psychoanalysis (i.e. Hemingway,Kerouac, etc.)AbjectionRedefinition and appropriation of the concept of lack and/or the phallus

Please email abstracts (250 words) to laura.westengard_at_email.ucr.edu by2/16/07. Also,please note any A/V needs you may have - we can obtain VCRs, DVDs, andprojectors for laptops. Less standard equipment is possible (although notguaranteed) upon request.